Nigeria's president fires top brass at utility - 6th day of blackout

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- President Olusegun
Obasanjo fired the entire senior management of
Nigeria's beleaguered electricity monopoly on
Tuesday as the country endured the sixth day of
widespread power outages.

The outage has left millions of people without
lights or water and forced some businesses to
shut. Doctors at one Lagos hospital performed
surgery in parking lots lit by generators because
of the problem.

The government-owned National Electric Power
Authority is known for its disintegrating power
plants, broken lines and haphazard service. Some
Lagos neighborhoods regularly endure weeks of
blackout.

But the recent outage is believed to be the worst
since Nigeria's civil war ended 30 years ago.

It began Thursday when the power authority shut
down its nationwide network after its thermal
power generating systems in Lagos broke down.
An explosion at a hydroelectric plant in northern
Niger State compounded the company's problems.

Power was restored to some parts of the country
on Sunday, but not at sufficient levels to power
many domestic appliances.

"There can be only one verdict and this is that
NEPA has failed woefully," Obasanjo said,
announcing the firings. He did not say how many
people would lose their jobs.

A power authority spokesman said Monday the
company had received inadequate funding over
the years to maintain its plants, warning that
power failures were likely to persist until a major
overhaul was done.

The government asked legislators to approve
some $120 million for new thermal stations, radio
stations reported Tuesday.

Nigeria was ruled by a series of deeply corrupt
military governments for 15 years, leaving much
of the country's infrastructure desperately
crumbling. The junta rule ended with Obasanjo's
election in February 1999.